


Unexpected Life

by BytheSea (ye_old_cactus)



Series: A little pick me up [4]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Crew as Family, Domestic Bliss, Kid Fic, M/M, No Shepard without Vakarian, POV Garrus Vakarian, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 07:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16192523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ye_old_cactus/pseuds/BytheSea
Summary: Shepard and Garrus talk about how much their lives changed after the war.





	Unexpected Life

“So…” Shepard said, stretching the ‘o’ for as long as his lungs could and trying to come up with how to put into words what he wanted to ask, “remember that time, back with the Collectors, that you told me you didn’t wanna have kids?”

Garrus looked back, surprised.

After the war was done, they’d met every year just to shoot bottles and talk about their lives and how much they’d changed, despite them now living in different planets, they always found the chance to meet every year at the Shepard-Alenko summer house—or that’s how Shepard called it—on Intai’sei and that year wasn’t the exception, the only different thing being that Shepard had been a little distracted, like he had something in his mind that he didn’t know how to say, though Garrus had no idea if that was it.

All year long, the only time they spent together, and alone, was that week. They usually got 2 weeks off, the first one to have their guy time, as Kaidan had so manly called it, and the second one to be with their friends, who arrived later.

“I remember,” he finally replied.

“But then you got Jona,” Shepard said.

“By accident, I just went with it when Tali said she wanted him,” he interrupted Shepard, though maybe he wanted him just as much as her.

“But you said it changed your life forever.”

Garrus lowered his sniper rifle a little annoyed because there was just one bottle left and he was determined to win their not-so-competition thing, but his curiosity won at the end.

He did remember telling Shepard that—that he didn’t want kids and that having Jona, and then Calix changed his life forever and he wasn’t wrong.

Back in the SR-2 Shepard had asked him that when he was just fresh out of Omega, less than a week aboard the ship, scars still stinging. They were changing into their armors to go down to Horizon and Shepard was unusually quiet, which wasn’t that abnormal any other day because he was still getting used to his new body but that day he definitely felt different and, it wasn’t until they were back on the ship that he told Garrus The Illusive Man knew about Kaidan… what they were before Shepard died and that he was down on Horizon. It made sense, Garrus wasn’t stupid, up until that moment Shepard had fought The Illusive Man every step of the way but they headed straight to Horizon after the briefing was done, even risking Mordin’s solution to not work, but putting all the pieces together, he knew Shepard had done the right thing and he'd have done the same, to be honest.

Later that same night, Shepard had come to the main gun where he was and sat next to his tools, helping Garrus by handing them.

They were just quietly working when Shepard asked him if he wanted a family. It didn’t take even a second for Garrus to reply that no, he didn’t want that. Maybe it wasn’t Garrus the one who replied but Archangel, though that didn’t change the fact that he didn’t want kids, especially because he’d been exchanging a few flirty texts with Tali and they both had talked about it, if by accident only and agreed on the same thing. Who would’ve thought that years into the future he was going to get married to Tali and have kids and now he couldn’t imagine his life without them… but that was maybe because they were his life.

He didn’t ask Shepard the same, wouldn’t have known how to phrase it, but he did ask him if that’s what he wanted with Kaidan because, by that time, he might’d been a heartless bastard but he knew love when he saw it and that’s what he saw between Shepard and Kaidan back on the old Normandy and even that same day on Horizon. He knew how much Shepard was hurting and he knew that asking him if that’s what he wanted with Kaidan would only hurt him more but sometimes, between friends, best friends, that was the little push you needed to keep going. Shepard didn’t reply of course, instead he changed the topic and asked him about Sedonis. It didn’t go unnoticed for Garrus, but he decided that he had pushed enough for the day.

He didn’t say anything back to Shepard, he had nothing to say, Tali and Jona and Calix changed his life and that was it, there was nothing more to talk about it.

Shepard seemed to understand this and breathed in deeply and slowly, Garrus raised his sniper rifle and just when he was about to shoot, the bottle exploded in front of him, he looked back to Shepard furiously, but Shepard was smiling, and he wanted to be mad at him, but he just couldn’t. Shepard had that effect on people it seemed. He muttered a quiet ‘ _motherfucker_ ’ and started disassembling the rifle, with Shepard doing the same next to him.

They did it quietly, today was their last day before the whole crew arrived and as excited as they were, having Grunt and Wrex and Bakara _and_ Wrex’s kids running around, wasn’t the quietest things of them all so they had to make do with what they had for now, but the peace ended before they even had time to enjoy it as they saw Kaidan and Shepard’s ship descending behind them.

Shepard’s smile was back but Garrus decided to say nothing, the first few times he mentioned Shepard smiling when Kaidan arrived, it ended with half the crew laughing at him and saying they didn’t know he was the jealous type and even Tali, his own wife.

Shepard ran towards the landing pad, Garrus decided to walk, a little less excited about the whole thing… there was a reason why he spent most of his time alone when he was on ships or why he preferred to just be with Tali and their kids. After the war, he was all about peace and quiet.

“C’mon,” Shepard called back, “are you that old already?”

Garrus didn’t say anything but started jogging behind Shepard as the ship opened its door. The first people to walk out of it where Jack and Miranda who got closer and closer each year, behind them were Wrex and Bakara, he had a baby on his arms and Bakara was holding an older kid’s hand while three more even older walked behind them. One time Garrus, drunk and a half, had confessed to Wrex that he couldn’t tell all his kids apart, Wrex confessed back that he couldn’t either.

Zaeed and Samara were next, years later and Zaeed was still trying to woo Samara who pretended she didn’t notice.

Kasumi was nowhere to be seen but as Jacob came down next, they all knew she was probably behind him. He then saw Liara, she was holding Jona’s hand while next to them was Tali talking to someone on her omnitool and carrying little Calix on her hip, this time Garrus ran to take Calix off of her who as soon as he saw his dad, stretched his little hands like he was asking for a hug, Tali let him go easily as she reached up to kiss Garrus.

He was making his way up the ship to where Shepard had disappeared seconds ago when he heard Cortez scolding James and EDI and Joker watching amused… nothing new there. Finally when most of the crew was out, he saw Kaidan—dark circles under his eyes and more white hair than last year, Garrus guessed being a Councilor didn’t come with many good night sleeps.

“You look like shit, Councilor Alenko,” he told Kaidan smirking.

“It’s Councilor Shepard-Alenko for you, Primarch Vakarian,” Kaidan replied, smirking too.

Garrus moved his mandibles uncomfortably, and Kaidan knew he had won that round, “give it up, Alenko… it’s been years,” he said at the end but it only made Kaidan smile more because now he was sure he'd won that round. Another ‘ _Shepard-Alenko_ ' beating him at his own game... again, in less than an hour.

They’d had that argument more than once, actually, ever since they got married, but Garrus refused to get used to those weird human things. He was Vakarian, Tali was Zorah, Jona was Hazt, Shepard was Shepard and Kaidan was Alenko and that’s how it was going to stay for him… besides there was only one Shepard.

“Well…” Shepard interrupted his train of thought, “I hope you get this one's name right.”

Garrus looked behind Kaidan and inside the ship as Shepard was fully coming out with the tiniest human he’d ever seen on his arms.

“Who might this be?” He said unbelieving but he was sure he knew and almost instantly, his conversation with Shepard made sense.

“Her name's Ashley,” Kaidan said grabbing Calix from Garrus as Shepard was handing little Ashley.

“Ashley Shepard-Alenko,” Shepard finished rearranging Garrus hands on Ashley's back. Quarians and Turians babies were easier to hold thanks to their legs—maybe Quarians more than Turians—and Garrus felt completely terrified to be holding something so delicate.

“Ashley,” he said slowly, testing the name on his tongue. Kaidan and Shepard weren’t the only ones affected by Ashley’s death. Granted, they were together since the beginning but after spending so much time together in the cargo bay and after Ashley started trusting him—aliens—more, they had been inseparable. “She’s beautiful,” he said.

“Hey!” Grunt's booming voice yelled behind them, completely ruining the moment, “you said it was my time to hold her.”

“You've had her all the way here, Grunt,” Kaidan scolded him, “let Garrus have her for a while and hold this one,” he said handing Calix who was still sleeping, even as he was passed from hands to hands.

“I don’t want this one!” Grunt complained, carefully holding Calix and figures he'd be the one who looked like an expert doing so.

“Careful, kid. I’m gonna tell your parents,” Garrus said, rubbing tiny circles on Ashley's back.

“We're right here,” Shepard replied, finally kissing and greeting Kaidan, probably hadn’t done it on his haste to take Ashley from Grunt to introduce her to Garrus.

Garrus didn’t know anything about Krogan's expressions or body language, but he knew about Grunt's and if he had to take a guess, he’d said Grunt was pouting and blushing.

He felt at home.

* * *

When Shepard finally recovered, one of the first things he did was check on his Intai'sei home, they had all but forgotten about it, and there was no reason for them to use it as they were always on the ship but Shepard still remembered, apparently.

He'd recruited Garrus and Wrex to help him rebuild it on their free time, he’d made it his personal project, claiming that it helped him relax from all the shit he went through, Wrex and Garrus who had no idea how to hold a hammer went with it for the sake of helping Shepard but that only lasted for less than a year when Shepard, in the middle of nailing something hit one of his fingers and screaming ‘ _fuck this shit_ ' hired a company to do it for him… that day was spent with them completely wasted behind a less than half done house.

At first it was only for him and Kaidan, an extra room if someone else wanted to come but with all their friends and crewmates wanting to see Shepard and the house, he had added one more room and then another one and then another one until there were more rooms than people and when he was satisfied, he had invited them all to celebrate.

The house was, to put it mildly, huge and despite the hugeness, Garrus only like two places, or at least he favored two... the shooting range Shepard installed behind the house, mostly because it was the only time both Shepard and him held a gun and not any gun, sniper rifles. Now that he was Primarch and Shepard an ambassador, they had their own security, besides after the war, none of them were too keen on holding more than a pen, they had done it for too long and it was time for them to rest.

The second place he liked was what Kaidan called “ the patio”, it was next to the pool and it included a bar... so.

He was there at the moment, a six pack next to his chair and Calix sleeping on his lap face down. He was distractedly moving his talons up and down Calix’s carapace, he was happy to know that his son liked that as much as Garrus did because even now that he was grown up he usually asked Tali to do the same thing for him when he couldn’t sleep, it always helped and it seemed it did the same for Calix because he was sleeping deeply and hadn’t even moved in hours.

One of the most prominent leftovers of the war was how it ruined some planets atmospheres, the only reason why Shepard and Kaidan could have a pool was because after the devastation the reapers caused, the atmosphere on Intai’sei changed to favor them, which was the reason why they could all breathe without helmets and have a damn pool... Millions of credits went to the investigation of those changes and thousands of scientists were worried about it because it could mean that eventually a lot of species had to leave their home planet, Tali being one of the most worried ones due to personal experience, but Shepard was just happy that they could all meet without problems there and that the kids could enjoy the pool no matter the time of the year.

He’d been sitting at the patio for a few hours now, he had no idea what time it was but didn’t care. Part of him wanted to wake Shepard up just to have someone else with him but knowing Shepard he was probably joined at the hip with Ashley, he wondered how he even managed a full week without her.

At the end he didn’t need to wake him up because he heard him walking behind him and was proud to know that he still knew Shepard that much as he saw him sit next to him with Ashley on his chest, both his hands protectively around her back.

“Hey,” Shep said accepting the beer Garrus handed him.

“She looks liked Ashley,” he replied. It had been rounding his head all day... how much Ashley looked like... Ashley—the hair, the eyes, even the way she scrunched up her nose when she was annoyed.

“One of her sisters was the surrogate,” Shepard said as quietly as Garrus had asked him.

They sat there in silence. Every once in a while, the wind would pick up and the water in the pool would make a pleasant whooshing noise. He’d never told anybody but times like these where they could just sit and not talk were the ones Garrus liked the most, it made him feel old as fuck but well... he was. He suspected Tali knew because sometimes, back on Palaven, after she came from Rannoch, she’d kiss him and sit next to him quietly... sometimes Jona would come to sleep with his head on her legs while he had Calix the same way he was holding him now, face down on his lap... being a Primarch didn’t come with guns or running or hiding behind crates, but he still had to yell and fight to get what Palaven needed, it was his own battlefield.

A couple of minutes later, though, Shepard cleared his throat.

“I wanted to ask you something,” he said unsure. Garrus made a go-ahead motion with his head and Shepard cleared his throat again, “I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be her godfather...”

Garrus looked back amused, he knew what that meant, how important it was for humans, for Shepard... it almost made him laugh because Shepard straight up looked like he was afraid Garrus might say no, over 10 years of knowing each other and Shepard still had those silly fears.

“Well,” he started, smiling, “that’s not even a question, is it?” Shepard smiled back. “You know there's no Shepard without Vakarian.”

**Author's Note:**

> :)


End file.
